"When the Giants Come to Town..." is my blog intended to chronicle my thoughts on San Francisco Giants baseball. My special interest is in prospects and the farm system, but of course, will comment on all aspects of the San Francisco Giants. I will also comment on baseball in general, particularly from a fantasy baseball perspective. I hope you will find the site informative, and invite you to join in the discussion.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Game Wrap 9/6/2013: Giants 3 D'Backs 0

Yusmeiro Petit retired the first 26 batters he faced before allowing a hit to pinch-hitter Eric Chavez that landed inches from the outstretched glove of Hunter Pence in RF. It was the 12'th time in MLB history that a pitcher has lost a perfect game with 1 out to go. Key Lines:

Hunter Pence- 3 for 3, 2B, HR(19), BB. BA= .287. The Rev is now just 1 HR away from a 20/20 season and is offseason FA payday is getting bigger by the game. Might have gotten a split second late jump on Chavez liner that broke up the game, but I doubt any fielder gets to it.

Hector Sanchez- 3 for 3. BA= .264. I'm not sure how Petit managed to come within 1 out of a perfecto while having to deal with Sanchez' terrible pitch calling and framing. OK, team. Can we put that completely false meme to rest? Sanchez was framing the pitches just fine because wherever he put his glove, Petit hit it right in the pocket. When you are catching a pitcher with good command, you don't have to move the glove or stab at the ball. When you are catching a pitcher who has no idea where the pitch is going, then yeah, you are going to be stabbing all night because you have no idea where it's going either.

Yusmeiro Petit- 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K's, GO/AO= 13/3, 95 Pitches, 69 strikes. Petit's FB topped out at 91 MPH and ranged from 88-91, but he had a 4-seamer, 2 seamer and cutter going along with a slider and curveball with a rare changeup thrown in. More importantly, he was able to pound the both corners at the knees plus elevate for a K or popup after establishing the bottom of the K zone.

So, I guess the question on everybody's mind is whether this is a fluke or if he is a serious candidate for next year's rotation.

Yusmeiro Petit was once a highly touted pitching prospect in the Mets organization. He made his name as a prospect by putting up tremendous K/BB's at a young age. Just one example: 2005 AA Age 20: 9-3, 2.91, 117.2 IP, 18 BB, 130 K's. He was then traded to the Florida Marlins in 2006 and then the D'Backs in 2007. His walk rates went up a little and his HR rates went through the roof. He developed a reputation as a guy who maybe had too good control. Maybe he was afraid to walk guys and was in the K zone too much and too fat and was giving up a lot of hard hits. He spent 2011 in the Mexican League.

The Giants pulled him out of the dumpster in 2012 and he put up numbers similar to the old days when he was a prospect with the Mets: 7-7, 3.46, 166.2 IP, 36 BB, 153 K's. More importantly, he kept his HR rate down despite pitching in a lot of PCL launching pads. He returned to Fresno in 2013 and after a rough start, settled down to his commanding ways: 5-6, 4.52, 87.2 IP, 13 BB, 91 K's.

My interpretation of all those numbers is this: What Petit is doing now is exactly what we would expect to see from him at the MLB level based on his numbers when he was a young prospect with the Mets. His type of pitcher needs a lot of refinement to his game in order to make that last jump to the majors. Petit has spent the last 2 seasons in Fresno making those refinements. The PCL is a tough, tough place to pitch. You have to keep your walks down and you have to keep the ball down in the zone to keep it in the ballpark. What we are seeing now is the finally finished product that the Mets and prospect watchers were hoping to see back in 2005. 28 is old for a prospect but not old for a pitcher. He should in the midst of his peak years and should be able to maintain his success for another 4-5 years before physical decline starts to set in. While I don't think you can just hand a guy like this a starting job next year, he should be given an opportunity to win a spot in the rotation as there is a high probability that his currrent performance is sustainable.

Matt Cain comes off the DL to face Brandon McCarthy in game 3 of the series tonight.

9 comments:

Totally agree DrB, I remember his top prospect days too, and been very encouraged by his great numbers for us in minors and brief majors. That is why I was upset when they released him twice this year, but it seems like they had an agreement with him to do that now, before they did his DFA.

This makes me at least partly wonder if we need Timmy back, so I will understand if others feel the same. I still do, at qO or two year, but wow, Petit deserves a chance, as does Gaudin too. But that is then six guys with Vogie option. Given late season dead arms in past, six man rotation to save arms?

Need Timmy? Offering a QO from a position of non-need is a nice spot to be in. But I think we'd like Tim back - I'd certainly love him back and he's still a Giant marketing tool and face-of-the-franchise. If he gets pushed aside by a swarm of Petit and Escobars maybe move him to the Pen and talk to him a bunch about John Smoltz.

Agreed, Petit deserves a chance to win a rotation spot. I thought he was going to get the perfecto, until I saw Chavez coming up which made me cringe. That was a rare time feeling disappointed after a Giants win.. According to Baggs, the last Giants pitcher to pitch a complete game throwing only 95 pitches was Mark Portugal. If my memory is correct, Petit is a similar type of pitcher to Portugal, not overpowering, but has good control and mixes his pitches well.

I see 50/50 Timmy isn't back. We will give him a QO (ironically much less than his current contract). Timmy takes that deal unless someone gives him 20mm type contract over 2-3 years. More money and longer contract, even if much lower per year. The question is whether someone does that--I could see a team with a low first rounder thinking better to risk on a Cy Young than a first round flyer.

We have 2 guys in the rotation. We need 3 more. Let's assume Surkamp/Escobar take one of the left spots. That still means you have 2 others, and I think Timmy, Petit and Chaudin will be in competition. I'm less convinced we pick up Vogey's option. Petit is a much better play and $7mm less. Chaudin is the wild card for me, since I'm still not sure if he's the new Vogey or just a one year wonder. Either way, I can see the FO thinking they sign Timmy and worst case he goes into the pen (where maybe he will thrive).

Great game, Petit has plus command and a very nice array of breaking pitches to keep hitters off balance. I'd caution a bit though, first the 88-89 top out, and the career of another one out away guy, Armando Galarraga. If the Giants keep running him out and he continues to impress, maybe he's the #5, but I'd rather he be the backup plan.

Laughed at the Hector Sanchez framing comment. And the lad can hit. Hope he takes this offseason more seriously than last.

Giants need to have protection if Timmy leaves. Petit is a nice piece for that but I'd really like to see a solid #3 signed and delivered. That's hard to do, but if they want to compete in the West next year that is what they need. The draft pick cost should hurt Timmy's market but it only takes one team. It looks like most of the top ten teams (protected pick) won't be looking to ramp up, the way the Indians did last year. A team like the Jays gets that pick protected though?

About Me

I grew up in Northern California near the Napa Valley. I got interested in baseball and the Giants by listening to Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons broadcast Giants games on KSFO. My early heros were Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and a guy you don't always think of, Jim Ray Hart. When I got older and was in school and early career, I didn't have time to follow as closely, but I tried to look up their boxscores each day and catch an occasional game on TV. One habit I got into at an early age was looking up the stats of their minor league players in The Sporting News. That became more difficult as TSN moved away from comprehensive baseball coverage. Now, of course, technology and affluence has changed all that. The internet is teaming with farm system/minor league information as well as college and high school baseball. Satellite TV enables me to get most of the Giants games on TV. I'm married with 2 wonderful daughters, who like to watch games with me.